A White Christmas

When you were a kid snow at Christmas was the ultimate. Time off school, sledding, and of course easy traveling for St. Nick. As you get older we tend to see it more of a hassle and inconvenience. Especially here in the Northwest where the infrequency of snow combined with the hilly terrain, wet and icy conditions and minimal removal equipment spells difficult conditions at best. We have over a foot at our house and it was snowing pretty heavy all christmas morning. The white stuff has been around for over a week and it is now turning wet and much messier. The Audi handles the snowy conditions great as I have no problems getting around. I have minimized driving just to avoid the crazy drivers that are always out there but otherwise no problems.

On the house I fortunately just finished the footing/foundation work outside and I have now been working inside. I have to finish the back bedroom (sanding and painting) so we can move our bed back there. Then we will move the living room so I can demo out that area for the new foundation. My only concern with the weather is how all the snow melt will drain and affect the excavation. I can already see that I will have some digging cleanup to do but hopefully, if I monitor the conditions, it won't be too extensive.

Happy Holidays!

Tif & dp

Paperwork

I spent the day updating my Construction Loan paperwork, organizing and filing subcontractor bids and generally getting on top of the paperwork. Here is an interesting thing about construction loans that I did not know. To get the loan, you break the work down into categories and get bids for the major ones. Once the bank is satisfied they approve your loan, assuming everything else is in order(finances, appraisal, etc). Now here is the interesting part. You get the money for each category once that work is fully completed only. So for example, let's say kitchen cabinets are a category worth $20k. You can only get that money once they are installed in the project. The bank will come out and verify. I guess this stops people not completing the necessary work, switching out stuff just to get the money etc. It does put you in the interesting position of owing the cabinet maker their money and not being able to pay until the cabinets are installed, which might not have anything to do with them.

Another thing that I was reminded of whilst doing paperwork is the variations in bids from different contractors. I have a few trades/categories where one contractor's bid is twice as much as another contractor! Now in theory they are bidding the same work as they had the same information etc. So what is the deal? My opinion is that you should always get a few bids to compare. The high is most likely too high and the low is too low. The high bidder is perhaps busy, doens't want to travel that far or whatever and is throwing a high number at the work. If they get it they will feel good making the $, otherwise no loss. The low bidder might be desperate for work, not paying attention to the scope of work, or bidding low figuring they will add $ through change orders once they have the job. My point here is the dollars does not tell the whole story. Get multiple bids, get references/referals, review the bid carefully to see what is included and not. Remember you will be working with this contractor for awhile so a good relationship is extremely valuable. Plus you will be living with their work even longer!!

TYPICAL LOAN CATEGORIES

(Not the best list, just an example)

1. Plans, Permits, Arch Fees

2. Bonds, Insurance

3. Excavation, Backfill, Final Grading

4. Foundation

5. Framing, Sheathing

6. Roofing

7. Siding

8. Windows, Sash

9. Brickwork

10. Sheet Metal Work

11. Ext/Int Painting

12. Plumbing & Fixtures

13. Water

14. Sewer

15. Electrical

16. Insulation

17. Heating, Cooling

18. Int Walls/Drywall

19. Doors, Trim, Finish

20. Garage Materials

21. Cabinets

22. Vinyl, Tile Work

23. Appliances

24. Underlayment

25. Flooring

26. Porches, Patios

27. Driveway

28. Landscaping

29. Misc Extras

30. Cleanup

31. Sales Tax

32. Financing

33. Real Estate Commisions

34. Profit & Overhead

35. Lot/Property

If you are looking for a more complete list just let me know. I have worked up some fairly good Excel tools that I am currently using to track my Cash Draws on the loan and manage the overall project costs.

Surprises

So I think a large part of successful project management is how you handle what you do not foresee. Today whilst I was finishing excavating for the new footings I uncovered a sewer line in a surprising location by the front door. I thought my house sewer line exited the house further to the east and heading off towards the northeast corner of the property. So I finished my excavation and went back to check out this surprise. The tile was old clay tile sections that looked like stuff used back in the 60's which is when the house was built. I carefully excavated it and as I approached the end close to the house footings it just ended. It turned out to be some old abandoned line for something predating our house. I just dug it all up and got it out of the way. The lesson is stay calm when surprises occur and just work through them. In construction they will always happen, success is based on how you handle them :-)

Surpise #2 was involving the drain line attached to the downspout at the garage corner of the house. I knew this was clogged somewhat because the floor scupper I put in drained slowly when it rained heavily. I needed it get this all out of the way to excavate for the footings and to track the gas line. When I pulled up the black perforated pipe up it was pretty much clogged solid for the first 15'! Even with the fabric sleeve around it tree roots had sought out the water pretty aggressively. I have it all up and out of the way now and will put in a new drain line with lots of gravel when I am done. Lesson learned, don't underestimate mother nature or she will kick your ASS! :-)

Excavation Update

A long overdue update but here goes. My nephew Keith came by before Thanksgiving and gave me a hand with digging out the front and getting the roots of the pine tree out of the way. Then I had a few days off for the holidays. I think I had put in over 14 straight days of work so the break felt good. I spent the last week getting the back and front foundations roughed in and ready. I left myself way too much digging to be done manually. I thought about getting the tractor back for one more day but the labor is free so I just got stuck in. One week later I have everything roughed in for the new foundations. The soil for the most part is rock free and very sandy, perfect digging. Still there was a lot to do. I still have a little work to finish by the pine tree stump at the side of the drive but that should be done this weekend. Then I need to demo out the Living room ready for new foundations in that area.

PS Shoveling is not natural! Your back gets all twisted and your arms hurt, but not equally. I recommend massage and back adjustments! Both of which Tif has been taking care of for me. Remarkably I feel pretty good. Tired but good :-)

Photo Update

Front Excavation

New Path to Front Door (Starts over by the mailboxes)

It has been a busy seven days with lots of progress forward. I had the tractor for that time period and it sure helped move things along. I only have a couple of pictures right now as the camera was on some weird setting and was doing out of focus shots. I did document Keith focused at the task at hand of digging out a large tree root and prepping for footings. The pile of rocks by the drive are from the lower rockery and the front and rear footings are shaping up nicely. I need to finetune the final grades in each area over the next few days. I also need to create a good access path so we don't have to walk through mud to get in the house. Then next up is the demo of the living room floor to prepare for the new foundation in that area.

Tractor Time

Having the correct tool for the job sure helps! Renting the tractor was a wise move. I have already filled a 24 yard dumpster with concrete and have a second 12 yarder ready to go. That would have killed me to move by hand. The bucket and back hoe are great for roughing out the excavations for footings and foundations. I might not be the best at using it but it sure makes fast work moving the dirt around.

I decided I would move the lower rockery to save the rocks for future landscaping. While doing it I punctured the water main line! We had a little Lake Pollard for awhile :-) Actually I quickly shut off the water main wiht minimum leakage and patched up the line with Arne's help. No problem. It looked like the water line was sitting right below the bottom rock, at least within a few inches.
I will get some pictures posted tomorrow.

Busy Day

So today I rented a front loader/back hoe, got a new dumpster for the concrete and got all the utilities marked out. Oh yeah and went to the dump this morning. The dumpster didn't arrive until 3pm so I spent the morning getting familiar with the tractor and figuring out how to get it into the back yard to pick up the concrete. It's a tight squeeze at the side of the house and I had to take down some of the fence but it worked out great. I figure one bucket load is like 4-5 wheelbarrow loads plus it would be very tough pushing the wheelbarrow up the drive and then into the dumpster, which is on the street. Much pain and suffering has been avoided! Tomorrow I hope to get all the concrete loaded up and start excavating for the footings. Look for some big changes soon!

No Front Porch!

Over the last couple of days I demo'd part of the actual house! To dig for the new front foundation/addition I needed to remove the front porch. I just decided to take off the whole thing; slab, roof and columns. The house looks a little naked and sad now ;-( I might try to reuse the old 4x12 beams in the remodel somewhere. Maybe new stairs treads? I like the idea of having some of the old house as part of the new and the old lumber might look nice and is far better than the new stuff. I will put them in the growing storage pile for now. Today we get another dumpster and I am renting a tractor for hauling the concrete and digging the new foundations. FYI, if you are ever digging on your property be sure to have all the utilities located before you start. "Call before you dig" is usually a free service by the utility companies. They come out within a day or so and mark where everything is. We have a gas line coming to the corner of the garage and I definitely want to know where that is! And I don't want to find it with the back hoe:-)

Craigslist is Great!

I recently put an add on the Craigslist website to sell some belongings instead of putting them in storage. Three days later I sold a radial arm saw, a lawn edger and one big drafting table! Plenty of extra cash plus I didn't have to move them! In the past I bought a great winter bike off of Craigslist and now I am keeping my eye out for building materials. One persons junk is another persons gold, plus you can get good prices. Not to mention it is the ultimate recycling/green approach! Check it out

http://seattle.craigslist.org/

RUBBLE!

I am so done with jack hammering concrete! We have numerous piles of broken up concrete slabs all around our house right now. The latest is the garage and front porch. Plus the first aprt of the driveway where the addition will go. Next week we will get another dumpster and I am going to rent a Kuboto Tractor/Back Hoe to move all the concrete. With our steep drive it would be just backbreaking to move all this material by hand. I will also use the Tractor to dig out for the new foundations and footings. It's truly starting to look like a major remodel now.

Garage Cleanup

It always amazes me how much stuff we collect. Tif and I have kept things to a minimum but by the time we cleaned out the attic, the garage was full! Most everything in the garage has been moved to storage now. We got a 10x20 unit that is just 1 mile from the house. Very convenient, which is nice since I have been making numerous trips back and forth. Next up is more jack hammering! We have to remove the garage slab and part of the driveway to prepare for the addition. The current garage will become the Master bedroom and bathroom. They will have a heated and stained slab but the old slab will not work. Wrong elevation, no insulation, etc, etc. So out it comes. I am becoming an expert with the jack hammer :-)

Be Careful With Concrete! or Lesson 2

After much recent research I have decided that concrete is a dangerous material that needs to be treated with the utmost respect. One should be very careful where you use it because someday you might have to remove it................................and that is hard, backbreaking work! As you can see by the numerous piles of concrete around our house, the previous owners used lots of concrete. I have now demo'd two concrete rubble rockeries, numerous small slabs that were left under our wood deck, and one large and very thick slab that was for the hot tub. Next step removal. I think I will rent a tractor/back hoe since I can't envision pushing way too many wheelbarrow trips of heavy concrete up our steep driveway into the "next dumpster". Cheers for now, my hands are tired from jack hammering for 6 hours straight!

Get A Bigger Dumpster

Lesson #1 - You will always underestimate the amount or volume of "stuff" by a factor of two! :-) I have been clearing and demoing in the yard to make way for the remodel work recently. I tore off the deck at the back the house, Took down the trellis and vines, removed rhodedendrons out front and a bunch of other misc cleanup. I figured I would get a 12 yard dumpster instead of making a bunch of trips with my truck. The dumpster company convinced me a 25 yard unit would take up the same space in the drive and not cost anymore so I got it. 2 days later the entire dumpster was full to the top!

The Tree

So right next to our driveway we have this really cool Pine tree. It's got one huge horizontal branch that goes right over the house. Unfortunately it also has a huge root that is breaking up our driveway and the tree drops tons of needles,12 months out of the year. Plus our addition will be close to the tree base. After careful consideration we decided to remove it. Sounds simple but you must first get city approval. We did this as part of our building permit. City's are becoming very protective of the environment and Kirkland is no exception. The rules and regulations on trees are some of the most complicated regulations I have ever seen in my 10+ years of doing architecture throughout the US and Canada! Dont' believe me? Check the link out, Chapter 95!

http://kirklandcode.ecitygov.net/CK_KZC_Search.html

So anyways I hired someone to take it down since it was over our power line, plus I did not feel confident with such a large tree. It came down in one day and the big rounds were picked up for firewood through a "Craigslist" ad. Very cool. Now things are a lot more open and NO MORE PINE NEEDLES!

Design 101

Well the design of our house took over FOUR + years for me to create. Now I know that doesn't seem like a positive but because I had the opportunity to "play around" with lots of ideas, I feel confident that the final design solution is a successful one. We balanced our relatively simple needs with what the neighborhood market requires and came up with a very inventive major remodel of our exisitng rambler.

By using most of the existing structure we are saving on some labor and material costs for sure. Another big savings that you might not think of is in permitting. Our remodel permits were about $4-5k. I estimate that a new construction permit would have been in the mid $25k range. That's a $20k saving right up front! Not to mention that with a new house the jurisdiction would have additional requirements that would have added $. It might have been easier to demolish our rambler but I believe that we will save quite a bit with our thoughful design. Plus we are truly being green by reusing much of our existing 1968 home.

Our remodel will be approximately 2900sf with a three car garage. The main living space is on the upper floor but this level will be at street level due to our sloping lot. The bedrooms are downstairs, which encompasses the existing structure. An interesting twist is that the garage will be over the Master Bath, Media, and Laundry area. This allows us to eliminate our sloped driveway which I hate currently! A little different layout but it's a good solution for our unique site topogragphy. With the great room and deck on the upper level we should get some great views of the neighborhood and perhaps a glimpse of Mt. Ranier! This space will have a sloped ceiling with exposed GluLam beams and connections. Somewhat reminiscent of a loft hopefully.

The front of the house will have what I call a "butterfly roof" with the main elements sloping towards each other. The materials will be a mix of metal, wood and smooth finished panels. Northwest Contemporary with lots of connections and details and warm wood finishes.

Ok enough on the design for now. I will talk more of my design thoughts as the project progresses. Time to get STARTED! :-)

The Design Challenge

For the last year I have been working at an architectural firm focused on residential design. This was a big shift from the last ten years of working on large scale retail but is was purposeful in that I have the idea of pursuing my own development work and the residential market seems to be the most logical place to start. And what a better place to start than on oyur own home! My goal with this blog is to not only document our remodel but to provide insight into what it takes to "make it happen"! So here is out existing site plan:

As you can see our property is pie-shaped with a rectangular home squeezed in. This created some unique challenges when designing our remodel. Here are the basics for those who are unfamilar. Each city/jurisdiction has its own zoning code that governs what can be built on a property, how big it can be, how tall, etc. Each property has setbacks that define how close you can build to each property line. Our property's setback requirements have changed over the years, with the result that the house currently sits over the side yard setback. This will became more clear when you view the new site plan. Secondly, we discovered during the design process, that the zoning code was going to change. The change would have severely impacted our design, so at the last minute I threw together our permit submittal documents and submitted to the city one day prior to the zoning change.

All the above is a quick overview of a pretty complex process of zoning and building codes and how they shape a house design. You can't just build whatever you want on your property and it is often a challenge to juggle all the variables to make a site work. Here are the design goals:

• Increase our square footage while maintaining a front and rear yard
• Eliminate the sloped driveway if possible
• Create a Great room w/Living, Dining, Kitchen
• Master Bedroom as a retreat
• Interior to have a "suburban loft" feeling
• Exterior to have a "Northwest contemporary" feel
• Use simple materials honestly: wood, metal, exposed connections
• Go green by reusing most of the existing house, radiant heated floors, Low voc finishes, Bamboo cabinets
• Think simple, clean, warm with an expressive architectural form and details

The Design Next

Starting Out

Well this first post is a little past due so let me lay out the background. The intent is to document and share our process of managing our own major remodel. It is something I have been dreaming and planning on doing for years and finally it has all started to come together. Currently our house is your basic 1968 rambler with three small bedrooms, a Living, Dining and Ktichen with a two car attached garage. I bought it in 2001 and have done some minor remodeling over the years. For the last few years I have been playing with a design for a major remodel or even a teardown to maximize our potential equity. Also, as most architects I dreamed of designing our own home. Anyways, as you can see it is a pretty simple rambler which has been a great home for the two of us. Our lot is pie shaped which combined with the sloped driveway, has led to numerous design challenges. So this is what we are starting with, a simple little rambler that is the least expensive home in a very desireable neighborhood. East of Market, just blocks from downtown Kirkland. Next time the design challenge and solution.